E-Book Usage Explodes; Print Still Popular

BENTONVILLE -- The number of electronic checkouts, including e-books, more than doubled at the Bentonville Public Library in 2013, said Hadi Dudley, library director.

In 2012, patrons downloaded 19,366 items through the library. In 2013, that number increased to 41,469.

That includes e-books, audio books, magazines and music. The number of vendors and resources added in 2013 played a role in the large increase, Dudley said.

Freegal Music, which allows patrons to download three free songs a week; OneClick Digital, which offered more variety in audio books and e-books; and Zinio, which allows patrons to download magazines, were all added last year. Only e-books and audio books were available prior to that.

E-books alone saw a 71 percent increase in checkouts, from 19,245 in 2012 to 26,962 in 2013, according to Dudley.

The library also saw its first dip in circulation of print books last year, Dudley said. There were 509,477 print books checked out in 2013, an almost 2.5 percent decrease from 522,145 in 2012.

Dudley compares the e-book explosion to when the Internet became popular.

"What the libraries did was they became the provider and the access point for Internet services to the community," she said. "That was key for use to be relevant at that time ... In a way, e-books are kind of like that. Adaptability is key."

The number of e-books checked out at the Springdale Public Library increased by 60 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to Marcia Ransom, director. Ransom wouldn't provide specific numbers.

There's been a gradual increase since the library joined Library2Go, an e-book resource, in 2010, she said.

"People are becoming more familiar with these devices all the time," Ransom said of tablets and electronic readers. "People of all ages are using them."

Print book circulation has also been slightly decreasing, about 3 percent a year for the last three to four years, Ransom said. It's to be expected with the increasing options in entertainment.

"There are just so many other formats available other than print, that's why we're seeing a slight reduction," she said.

Print is still popular, Ransom said. Often times people may prefer one format over the other depending on the time and place. A reader may prefer a print book in the morning with coffee but prefer to read on a tablet later in the day outside the house, she said.

A study done by the Pew Research Center shows print books are still more widely read among Americans, while e-book reading is growing.

Twenty-eight percent of adults read an e-book in the past year, up from 17 percent in 2011, according to the report. However, 69 percent read a printed book, about the same as last year. Only 4 percent are "e-book only" readers.

E-book check outs at the Rogers Public Library decreased from 2012 to 2013 after having increased steadily over several years, said Jean Besaw, director of technical services.

The decrease was from 49,128 in 2012 to 39,388 in 2013. E-book check outs for the first quarter of this year were just under 10,000, Besaw said.

Those numbers don't include other downloadable materials, many which were added last year. Those additions may have contributed to the decrease in e-book checkouts, Besaw said.

"(Patrons) have more to choose from now," she said.

Numbers weren't available for how many print books were circulated, Besaw said. She said there are between 500 and 800 physical checkouts per day.

The dramatic increase of e-book usage and the slow decrease of print book checkouts doesn't have area librarians concerned.

The activity at Bentonville's library is on par with national trends, Dudley said.

"I don't see anything to be really concerned about at this point," she said.

The staff will experiment with ways to bring print book circulation back up. One idea is to bundle three to five similar books together to be checked out at the same time, Dudley said.

Adaptability and knowing the community's needs are key to keeping libraries successful, she said. Libraries offer a hybrid of resources -- physical materials, digital access and programs.

"The formula of those ingredients will fluctuate," Dudley said. "I think that will just be something we all figure out over time."

A consortium of 17 libraries, including those in Bentonville, Springdale and Rogers, shares the cost of offering e-books and other downloadable materials. The materials are shared among the member libraries, Dudley said.

Essentially, libraries pay a subscription rate for material that is to be made available to the community, Ransom said. It's what libraries have always done.

"The role is the same," she said. "We just may not have the same format."